Tilt And Orientation Factor - [source code]

This component calculates the Optimal Tilt, Optimal Orientation and TOF (Tilt and Orientation Factor) for PV modules or Solar water heating collectors. TOF is a solar radiation at the actual tilt and orientation divided by the solar radiation at the optimum tilt and orientation. -

Inputs

• epwFile [Required]

  Input .epw file path by using the "File Path" parameter, or Ladybug's "Open EPW And STAT Weather Files" component.

• PV_SWHsurface [Required]

• Input planar Grasshopper/Rhino Surface (not a polysurface) on which the PV modules/SWH collectors will be applied. If you have a polysurface, explode it (using "Deconstruct Brep" component) and then feed its Faces(F) output to _PV_SWHsurface. Surface normal should be faced towards the sun.
  • Or create the Surface based on initial PV/SWH system size by using "PV SWH system size" component.

• annualShading [Optional]

  Losses due to buildings, structures, trees, mountains or other objects that prevent solar radiation from reaching the PV module/Solar water heating collector. Input range: 0 to 100(%), 0 being unshaded, and 100 being totally shaded PV module/SWH collector. - If not supplied default value of 0(%) will be used.

• north [Optional]

  Input a vector to be used as a true North direction, or a number between 0 and 360 that represents the clockwise degrees off from the Y-axis. - If not supplied, default North direction will be set to the Y-axis (0 degrees).

• albedo [Optional]

  A list of 8767 (with header) or 8760 (without the header) albedo values for each hour during a year. Albedo (or Reflection coefficient) is an average ratio of the global incident solar radiation reflected from the area surrounding the PV surface. It ranges from 0 to 1. - It depends on the time of the year/day, surface type, temperature, vegetation, presence of water, ice and snow etc. - If no list supplied, default value of 0.20 will be used, corrected(increased) for the presence of snow (if any). - Unitless.

• precision [Optional]

  Represents the square root number of analysis field for the output "geometry" mesh. Ranges from 1-100. Example - precision of 4, would mean that 4 fields in X direction (Azimuth) and 4 fields in Y direction (Tilt) = 16 fields, will be used to calculate the final "geometry" mesh. For lower precision numbers (say < 20) even precision numbers are more accurate. - If not supplied, default value of 20 will be used.

• scale [Optional]

  Scale of the overall geometry. - If not supplied, default value of 1 will be used.

• origin [Optional]

  Origin for the final "geometry" output. - If not supplied, default point of (-15,0,0) will be used.

• legendPar [Optional]

  Optional legend parameters from the Ladybug "Legend Parameters" component.

• analysisPeriod [Optional]

  Script variable TOF

• bakeIt [Optional]

  Set to "True" to bake the Tilt and orientation factor results into the Rhino scene. - If not supplied default value "False" will be used.

• runIt [Required]

  ...

Outputs

• readMe!

  ...

• TOF

  Tilt and Orientation Factor - solar radiation at the actual tilt and azimuth divided by the solar radiation at the optimum tilt and azimuth. In percent(%).

• TSRF

  Total Solar Resource Fraction - the ratio of solar radiation available accounting for both annual shading and TOF, compared to the solar radiation available at a given location at the optimum tilt and azimuth and with no shading. Calculated according to the following equation: TSRF = TOF * (100-annualShading)/100 Some USA states, like Oregon and Washington require TSRF to be minimum 75% in order for the PV system to be applicable for incentive programs. - In percent(%).

• PVsurfaceTilt

  Tilt angle of the inputted PV_SWHsurface. In degrees (°).

• PVsurfaceAzimuth

  Orientation angle of the inputted PV_SWHsurface. In degrees (°).

• optimalTilt

  Optimal tilt of the PV_SWHsurface for a given location. Optimal tilt being the one that receives the most annual solar radiation. In degrees (°).

• optimalAzimuth

  Optimal orientation of the PV_SWHsurface for a given location. Optimal azimuth being the one that receives the most annual solar radiation. In degrees (°).

• optimalRoofPitch

  Optimal steepness of the PV_SWHsurface for a given location. Optimal steepness being the one that receives the most annual solar radiation. In inches/inches

• optimalRadiation

  Total solar radiation per square meter for a whole year received on a PV_SWHsurface of optimal tilt and azimuth, at given location. In kWh/m2

• geometry

  Geometry of the whole TOF mesh chart. Connect this output to a Grasshopper's "Geo" parameter in order to preview the "geometry" separately in the Rhino scene.

• originPt

  The origin point of the "geometry" output. Use this point to move "geometry" output around in the Rhino scene with the grasshopper's "Move" component.

• analysisPt

  A point indicating inputted PV_SWHsurface's Tilt/Azimuth position on the solar radiation table.

• legend

  A legend for the annual total solar radiation (in kWh/m2). Connect this output to a Grasshopper's "Geo" parameter in order to preview the legend separately in the Rhino scene.

• legendBasePt

  Legend base point, which can be used to move the "legend" geometry with grasshopper's "Move" component.

Check Hydra Example Files for Tilt And Orientation Factor